1. Field
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for user interfaces, and in one example, to a user interface for visually searching and navigating an inventory of objects.
2. Related Art
The Internet and other networks interconnect computers and computing devices to allow for easy transport of data over network connections. Commonly, computers and computing devices are organized using well-known client-server models, wherein network connections are established between some computers or computing devices that act as servers and some computers or computing devices that act as clients. An example of a server is a web server and an example of a client is a web client such as a personal computer device running a web browser program. Generally, a web client operates according to the interface to issue requests to web servers, using well-known (or other suitable) protocols. In response to requests received, web servers return data responses. In a typical web client-server interaction, HTTP protocol is used, wherein the web client issues a request directed at a particular web server address for a page represented by a URL in the request and a server responsive to the particular web server address responds with data that may be a page to be displayed or other data set. Generally, regardless of the actual data being requested and returned, the data returned is referred to as a web page.
Web pages often include interfaces for searching inventories of objects; for example, a set of objects available from a particular source or sources. A web interface might search for web pages, media objects (e.g., image files, video files, audio files, and so on), products, and so on. Typically a user may enter search criteria (such as keywords or attributes) and the server returns search results, generally by generating a top-down relevancy order based on the search criteria and a particular searching algorithm. The search results displayed as a list according to the relevance order beginning with the best match listed first.